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Posts Tagged ‘fantasy’

Mother’s Day Book Bash

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on May 4, 2014| 2 Comments »

Mothers Day Book Bash Banner

To help decide which books might best suit those you gift on Mother’s Day, all week during the Book Bash, we’re going to be posting tidbits about these books–excerpts, deleted scenes, etc.–on our Facebook event page

EyeOnOrion1400x2100 (Copy)

Eye on Orion  by Laura Bastian

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $3.99   Amazon

Genre: YA Fantasy

Falling in love with your gorgeous new neighbor isn’t a bad thing, but when he turns out to be the bodyguard of a princess from a planet nine billion light-years away, life gets complicated.

Seventeen-year-old stargazer Holly Adams never imagined she’d find herself trying to prevent the overthrow of an alien government. When Jai and his sister Amira move into the house down the street, Holly is immediately drawn to them. Jai acts suspicious of her from the start, making Holly more curious about their oddities. When Holly learns they are from a different planet, she does what she can to help protect Amira from Shander, a man who wants to marry her by force in order to take over the kingdom her father rules.

Mistaken identity, a botched kidnapping, and a first kiss that bonds Holly and Jai for life are hard enough, but when Shander believes Holly to be the princess, things get even more dangerous.

 

Arms Wide Open - High Resolution (Copy)

Arms Wide Open, a novella by Juli Caldwell

Price: $.99   Amazon

Genre: Romance

Lauren Brooks is in a rut, and her roomie is determined to yank her out of it by convincing her to participate in a local coffee shop’s 5-in-5 speed dating event. Once she agrees, it takes her about 30 seconds to realize if there’s an oddball out there looking for love, he’ll find her. And creep her out. She confronts one weirdo after another until someone she used to know winds up in the same place, and she has to decide what she wants more: to make a break for it, or embrace the possibilities of another chance.

Not-So-easy (Copy)

Not So Easy by Sherry Gammon

Sale Price: $2.99, regularly $4.25   Amazon

Genre: YA Fantasy

Senior Max Sanchez has it all.

He’s the star pitcher for Port Fare High’s baseball team. He’s dating the head cheerleader, Emma McKay, and he has a great group of friends.

Junior JD Miller’s life is Not So Easy.

Unlike Max, JD struggles with making friends. He’s a social misfit, and he’s being bullied at every turn. He’s also barely surviving.

A tragedy forces these two together. Now Max must face the hardest challenge of his life as he works to help JD. A tragic accident changes everything, merging their lives together, and Max soon learns that life is not so easy for everyone. Max works to the point of exhaustion trying to help JD survive the chaos that is his life, and his eyes are opened to a world he had no idea even existed.

Not so Easy is a story about hope, surviving, and never giving up. Download a free sample and start reading now!

AdrenalineRush_CVR_MED (Copy)

Adrenaline Rush by Cindy Hogan

Sale Price: 1.99, regularly 3.99    Amazon

Genre: YA romantic suspense

A madman with a mission is kidnapping groups of thrill-seeking high school seniors across the country, and it’s up to Christy to stop him. To do so, she must take on a fearless alter ego and infiltrate a group of adrenaline junkies bent on pushing life to the limit. Death-defying stunts are only the beginning: two groups fit the profile, and Christy must discover the real target before it’s too late.

If she chooses the wrong group, more people will disappear. But choosing right puts her as the prime target—with no guarantee that she’ll get out alive.

Rising Cover (Copy)

Rising Book 1: Resistance by Laura Josephsen

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $3.99   Amazon

Genre: Science Fiction

All Alphonse wants is a quiet summer at home before his final months at university. What he gets is a half-dead stranger on his doorstep and the task of delivering a package to the leader of his home country. Not long after he boards a train toward the capital, he’s attacked by knights, elite soldiers of the neighboring king.

Alphonse is temporarily rescued by Mairwyn, a mechanic with a haunted past and a deep hatred of knights. Together, they attempt to carry out Alphonse’s urgent errand, only to learn that if they fail, countless people will die.

And even if they succeed, they may not be able to prevent the war that lurks on the horizon. (Book 1 of 2)

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Chimeria Omnibus Edition – Blood Will Tell and Blood is Thicker 

by Meredith Mansfield

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $4.75   Amazon

Genre: Portal Fantasy/Paranormal Romance

Blood Will Tell

A half-werewolf and a dragon in disguise join forces to rescue an innocent woman from an unknown attacker. Without knowing who or why, each tries to solve the mystery in their own way. But a decades-old crime and the dragon’s true identity may destroy their collaboration–and their growing attraction to one another–just when their enemy has found their hide out.

Blood Is Thicker

Rolf and Valeriah are back. Even while Valeriah struggles to adapt to her new life, a new crisis arises. If they can’t figure out why the dragons’ hatching grounds are suddenly going cold, a generation of dragons may never hatch–including their own eggs.

How to Have Peace cover official

How to Have Peace When You’re Fall to Pieces by Rebecca Rode

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $4.61   Amazon

Genre: Nonfiction

You haven’t seen your kids’ bedroom floor in weeks, your schedule is overflowing, and the drive-thru lady knows you by name. But even when life feels chaotic, peace is possible. Packed with poems, quotes, and inspirational stories, this book gives a fresh perspective on a mother’s work and helps restore calm to a hectic world–starting at home.

“Charming . . . full of wit, humor, and great ideas.” ~Sandra Covey

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A Change of Plans by Donna K. Weaver

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $3.99  Amazon

(If you get the Kindle book, you can add the audiobook for only $1.99)

Genre: Clean New Adult Adventure Romance

When Lyn sets off on her supposedly uncomplicated and unromantic cruise, she never dreams it will include pirates. All the 25-year-old Colorado high school teacher wants is to forget that her dead fiancé was a cheating scumbag. What she plans is a vacation diversion; what fate provides is Braedon, an intriguing surgeon. She finds herself drawn to him: his gentle humor, his love of music, and even his willingness to let her take him down during morning karate practices. Against the backdrop of the ship’s make-believe world and its temporary friendships, her emotions come alive.

However, fear is an emotion, too. Unaware of the sensitive waters he navigates, Braedon moves to take their relationship beyond friendship—on the very anniversary Lyn came on the cruise to forget. But Lyn’s painful memories are too powerful, and she runs off in a panic.

Things are bad enough when the pair finds themselves on one of the cruise’s snorkeling excursions in American Samoa. However, paradise turns to piracy when their party is kidnapped. Lyn’s fear of a fairytale turns grim. Now she must fight alongside the man she rejected, first for their freedom and then against storms, sharks, and shipwreck.

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All the Finer Things by Stephanie Connelley Worlton

Sale Price: $.99, regularly $2.99   Amazon

Genre: Romance

Married to one of the most lucrative and sought after plastic surgeons in SoCal, Megan Hamilton has it all. Her posh life, designer clothes, and stunning penthouse leave her wanting for nothing… or do they? Controlled by his obsessive pursuit of perfection, Doctor Matthew Hamilton will stop nothing short of breaking his young, spirited bride into a subservient trophy wife. But when parenthood enters their picture, the entire game changes. How far will Megan have to go to escape Matt’s obsessive control and abuse? And how much will she have to lose before she gets there?

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Miscellany

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I’m just going to announce a few things today:

 

???????????????????????????????????????“Becoming Lioness” is now free everywhere (yes, even Amazon). It contains an excerpt from THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, which will come out sometime this summer.

Red Wyreth Cover Small“Wyreth’s Flame”, with a substantial excerpt from THE BARD’S GIFT, is free everywhere but Amazon. If you’d like to help with that, feel free to report the lower price at Apple (or Barnes and Noble). The link is just below the product details on Amazon’s product page.

http://www.dreamstime.com/-image10567743And, finally, a bunch of great authors are doing a Mother’s Day Book Bash next week (May 5th thru the 12th). Among the other titles that will be a great bargain that week, my Chimeria Omnibus, containing both BLOOD WILL TELL and BLOOD IS THICKER, will be only 99 cents that week. There’ll be a bunch of other fun things during the week, too–excerpts, deleted scenes, character interviews. So come join the fun on Facebook.

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Revising Revisions

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on April 27, 2014| Leave a Comment »

By far the longest part of writing is revisions. First drafts are allowed to be bad. Some would even say they’re supposed to be bad. Really, the first draft is just to get the story down. My rule on first drafts is never look back. There is only one direction–forward. If I go down a rabbit trail, well, I just cut that part in the next draft. There are going to be things I have to cut. There are going to be things I have to add–settings and emotions I skipped over in the first draft, foreshadowing of things I discovered as I went along. Sometimes, there are just going to be things I got wrong.

Sometimes, in the process, I create even more problems.

I’m currently working on what I hope will be the last revision of MAGIC AND POWER (working title). This one has taken a more circuitous path than usual. When I started it, I expected it to be a novella. Yeah. Right. It’s 95,000 words now and likely to get a bit longer. Not a novella. Some reworking was necessary when I realized that. The conflict that will sustain a novella isn’t necessarily big enough to make a novel work. So the political background of the love story had to grow and take a bigger role in the story.

I intended it to be a love story between just two characters–until a third character popped up and turned out to be a better match. My first love triangle. And, on the first and second pass, I botched it. Knowing which character was going to win in the end, I didn’t make the other enough of a possibility. In this revision, I need to make that character a plausible love interest–better, stronger, less desperate.

Not content with that, in the process of creating a little more tension with the other love interest, I messed him up too. I want him to have some goals and methods that are annoying to the main character, so that their attraction to each other is derailed a few times before things work out for them. I took it too far. Now he comes off as pushing too hard.

Sometimes the writing process is two steps forward and one step back. Oh well, as long as the momentum is still forward.

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Planning a Launch, Part 2

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on April 23, 2014| Leave a Comment »

There’s one thing I’ve already started for the launch of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE this summer.

I put out a new version of “Becoming Lioness”, which is a short story set in the same world and sharing some characters with THE SHAMAN’S CURSE. In fact, “Becoming Lioness” is a somewhat stripped down (to make a tighter short story) version of something that will happen in the fourth (as yet untitled) book in the series. Which makes “Becoming Lioness” a perfect way to introduce readers to the series.

I changed the cover just a little. Actually, I just added a subtitle–A Dual Magics Story–to tie it in to the series.

???????????????????????????????????????The main change though is what comes after the end of the short story. The original edition of “Becoming Lioness” had an excerpt from BLOOD WILL TELL at the back. (Actually, the only review this story has gotten on Goodreads came from a reader who didn’t seem to notice the “Bonus Material” header. Her review was that the story was disjointed because it changed to a different character and a different story in the middle and then just ended. Yeah, that was the first chapter of a different book. Sometimes it’s really hard not to respond to bad reviews.)

The new version has the first two chapters of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE at the back. The plan is to make this story perma free. Experience with “Wyreth’s Flame” suggests that this is going to take a while to accomplish on Amazon, so an early start may not be a bad thing.

 

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Planning for a Launch

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , on April 20, 2014| 2 Comments »

This is something I haven’t been very good at so far. In fact, up ’til now, I’ve usually published first and then scrambled to do something later. That doesn’t work so well. I need to do better.

As I look forward to the launch of THE SHAMAN’S CURSE, book one of the DUAL MAGICS series, sometime this summer, it’s time to start thinking about this.

In Vatar’s world, there are two separate kinds of magic. In the semi-nomadic plains tribe, one kind of magic is acquired through initiation into one of the clans. In the coastal cities, an entirely different kind of magic is inherited through certain closely-guarded bloodlines. No one has ever been in possession of both kinds of magic. Until now.

Apart from polishing the manuscript, which I’m working on right now, the cover is the next thing I need to work on.

A lot of authors use a cover reveal to start generating interest. My cover art is still in process. I haven’t come up with a single image that really resonates for this story. It’s complicated because DUAL MAGICS will be a four-book series, eventually, and I’d really like to have some consistency in the covers. Some images that would work well for THE SHAMAN’S CURSE won’t extend to the other books in the series.

I also need to plan far enough ahead to have at least a few reviews soon after the story goes live. Maybe a blog tour. (This time, hopefully, my computer won’t go down in the middle of it.) Who knows? I might even try a Facebook Launch Party.

It’s a lot of work, and definitely something I need to get better at, soon.

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Reviews

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on April 16, 2014| Leave a Comment »

One of the most important ways to sell books is reviews–honest reviews, not those unethical purchased reviews. In our digital age, they’re the word-of-mouth advertising that has always been the most valuable. Social confirmation that someone else read this and like it. Or hated it. Sometimes even those reviews can help.

But reviews can be hard to get. Even people who love a book just may not log on to Amazon or Goodreads to tell the world about it.

I’m trying something new (for me) with THE BARD’S GIFT.

TheBardsGiftCoverSmallIt’s up on Story Cartel now. For the next three weeks, you can download it for free in return for an honest review. Try it now. What have you got to lose?

I did get a very nice review of “Wyreth’s Flame” on Smashwords.

I’m also still working on getting “Wyreth’s Flame” free on Amazon. (It’s currently $0.99 there.)  To accomplish that, I need people to report lower prices on Barnes and Noble and the Apple iBookstore. There’s a really easy link right below the product details. This ebook also includes a hefty excerpt from THE BARD’S GIFT.

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Getting Unstuck

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , on April 13, 2014| 2 Comments »

I’ve been a little bit stuck on my rewrite of THE IGNORED PROPHECY. Now, partly that’s been due to some real-life issues that are mostly beyond my immediate control. I’m working on the things I can change eventually, but everything just takes more time than I’d like. And, in the meantime, things are just going to be hard.

Among the things I have to learn to do better is marketing. It never was my best subject or something I’m very comfortable with. But it is a fact of life for a writer and if I don’t learn to do it at least adequately I’ll never make this work. I’m taking a flying leap on Story Cartel, hoping for some reviews of THE BARD’S GIFT. We’ll see how that works out.

I’m also still working on getting “Wyreth’s Flame” free on Amazon.

Red Wyreth Cover SmallIf anyone would like to help out by reporting the lower prices (free) on Barnes and Noble and Apple iBookstore, I’d appreciate it.

Now, this is bound to impact on my writing, but it wasn’t all that was going on and it took me a while to figure it out. I’m doing a rewrite of some of my earliest writing, going through chapter by chapter and trying to bring that story up to my current writing level. I underestimated how hard this was going to be. And what was holding me back was that I wasn’t satisfied with the result.

The first few chapters are pretty solid (aside from the problems inherent in starting a sequel), but I just wasn’t going deep enough in subsequent chapters. I’m going back to fix that. It just is a fact of life that every chapter is going to require more than one pass. I’d always known that. Where I went wrong was in thinking I could go straight through the manuscript (the way I do a second or third draft) and then do the next pass. That’s just not working. I have to do multiple passes on each chapter until I’m happy enough with the result to move on. Then, I’ll likely have to do still more revision passes, probably on the whole manuscript. Nobody said this was going to be easy, but I think the story is worth it.

Moral of the story: Don’t bite off more than you can chew.

 

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Wyreth’s Flame

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , on April 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Red Wyreth Cover Small

It’s here!

Sometimes the gift of the right story to tell at the right time is a blessing. Sometimes it’s a curse. But the Norse gods don’t leave Astrid much choice, either way.
On the eve of a desperate battle, with her father lying mortally wounded, the gods give her a story about the first dragon to learn to breathe fire. As usual, the story doesn’t come with instructions. It’s up to Astrid to decide if the story is meant to calm the frightened children or encourage the dispirited men. Or if she just might be able to do both with the same story. All their lives may depend on her skill with a story.

Wyreth’s Flame is available on both Amazon and Smashwords. It’s free on Smashwords. I’ll have to wait until it gets out to Barnes and Noble before I can start the process of making it free on Amazon, too. In the meantime, it’s only $0.99.

You can add it to your to-read list on Goodreads too.

There’s a healthy extract of The Bard’s Gift (twelve chapters) included in the ebook.

TheBardsGiftCoverSmall

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The Stone of Valhalla

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , on April 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Welcome another author with a fun story involving Norse mythology. (Funny thing. The story of Fafnir makes an appearance in The Bard’s Gift, too.)

Welcome to The Stone of Valhalla Blog Tour!

A middle-grade fantasy-adventure by Mikey Brooks.

Don’t forget to check out the GIVEAWAY at the bottom this post

for a chance to WIN a $25 Amazon Gift card and other great prizes!

 

Fun Discoveries while Researching

A Guest Post by: Mikey Brooks

 

I discover fun and interesting things with each book I write. For The Stone of Valhalla I did a lot of research into old Norse mythology and legends. I wanted to base my “otherworld” off something that still had familiarity in ours. World building is really fun in the fact that you get to create everything from the ground up. You get to create their religion, their folk songs, their folklore, everything. I mostly turned to research to find names for characters and places but as I found a name, I found a story behind the name.

In The Stone of Valhalla a magical amulet is sot by many evil creatures trying to hone its power for their own purposes. It’s ruled by a harpy, then an evil wizard, then something just as terrifying. One of the masters of the amulet was a dragon. I found this really cool name Fáfnir and decided to use it for my dragon in the folklore of this “otherworld”. What I discovered was a fascinating story about a dragon named Fáfnir from old Norse legends. In the Norse legend Fáfnir was the son of the dwarf king that was transformed into a dragon because of his greed over gold and a magical ring. He was later slain by the hero in the Völsunga Saga. I took a few things from what I learned about Fáfnir and incorporated it into my book, twisting the story to fit my own. I find this to be the most thrilling part of writing. You never know what you’ll learn as you research for your book.

I am thrilled to announce the release of my newest middle-grade fantasy-adventure: The Stone of Valhalla. I hope you love this book as much as I do.

Cover

Synopsis:

Aaron was chosen to save their world, but it might come at the cost of losing his own.

Breaking into an old lady’s basement was supposed to reward 13-year-old Aaron with new friends. Instead he finds an enchanted amulet that transports him to another world—one at war with magic. Before he knows it, he is accused of witchcraft and invited to a bonfire—where he’s the main attraction. If that’s not bad enough, a goblin army shows up and toasts the town…literally. The good news: Aaron escapes being charbroiled. The bad news: the goblins are after him. They want his amulet and will stop at nothing to get it. Battling to find his way home, Aaron teams up with a not-so-magical-wizard and learns it’s his fate to destroy the amulet and save this new world. But is he willing to sacrifice his own?

Check out what these talented authors are saying about it:

“The Stone of Valhalla is one of those books that only comes along once in a great while. Brooks doesn’t just create a world, he puts you inside of it, allowing you to experience the wonder in a way that only he can. His characters are likable and fun. His twists leave you asking ‘Why?’ Treat yourself to an exciting adventure through a beautiful new land. Make new friends and be a part of the magic. This is a book that you will not be able to put down!”

—J.R. Simmons, author of Ragesong: Awakening.

“The Stone of Valhalla drew me in from the get-go. Aaron’s journey is reminiscent of Dorothy’s trek in The Wizard of Oz. Magic, sword fights, danger, and more danger, sprinkled with humor and unexpected twists. This is one of the ‘best’ fantasy adventures I’ve ever experienced!”

—BBH McChiller, author of The Monster Moon Series.

“The Stone of Valhalla is a riveting mystery revealing true friendship, loyalty and sacrifice. Brooks engages the curiosity of middle graders and older sleuths alike, until the very end. Fantastic!”

—L.R.W. Lee, author of The Andy Smithson series.

Where to Find The Stone of Valhalla:

Exclusive price for the eBook release is just $2.99! (List Price: $4.99)

And only $9.99 for the paperback! (List Price: $12.99)

On April 12th 2014 the price will return to the List Price

Kindle | Paperback

Another special offer:

During The Stone of Valhalla Blog Tour

Mikey’s other great middle-grade eBooks will also be set to the low price of just $0.99!

The Dream Keeper:

Kindle | Nook | Kobo

 

The Dreamstone:

Kindle | Nook | KoboLaunch

You’re Invited to PARTY!!

The online launch party will take place on Thursday, April 10th at 4pm (MST). The party will run for 2 hours and you’re invited to drop by anytime. The longer you stay the more chances you have of winning prizes! We have slew of eBooks to giveaway, as well as a Stone of Valhalla necklace AND a $25 Amazon gift card! It is hosted by LovingtheBookLaunchParty on Facebook. Just follow this link to join the event: http://goo.gl/Q2Fd3r.

What’s that? Another Party!

That’s right! If you’re local to Utah you don’t want to miss this kickin’ party. We are having a launch party to celebrate the release of this awesome new book. Of course there will be plenty of giveaways there too, but what’s even better are the guest authors! Just check out these fabulous names: J. Scott Savage, Chad Morris, Lisa Mangum, Jenni James, Ali Cross, and many more. The Launch Party is: Friday, April 11th from 6-9pm at the Viridian Center in West Jordan, Utah. Follow this link for a map: http://goo.gl/dqVc0u

 

About Mikey Brooks:

Mikey is a small child masquerading as an adult. On occasion you’ll catch him dancing the funky chicken, singing like a banshee, and pretending to have never grown up. He is the author/illustrator of several books including the best-selling ABC Adventures: Magical Creatures and Bean’s Dragons as well as the middle-grade fantasy-adventure series The Dream Keeper Chronicles. His art can be seen in many forms from picture books to full room murals. He loves to daydream with his three daughters and explore the worlds that only the imagination of children can create. Mikey has a BS degree in English from Utah State University and works fulltime as a freelance illustrator, cover designer, and author. As a member of the Emblazoners, he is one of many authors devoted to ‘writing stories on the hearts of children’. He is also one of the hosts of the Authors’ Think Tank Podcast. You can find more about him and his books at: http://www.insidemikeysworld.com/.

Giveaways

The Giveaways!

Enter the giveaway here to be entered to win one of the following prizes:

$25 Amazon Gift Card

The Stone of Valhalla Necklace

Autographed Paperback of The Stone of Valhalla

Autographed 11×17 Poster

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Building Up Steam

Posted in writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Well, the computer problems I had earlier sort of took the wind out of my sails for a while, but I’m starting to build up steam again.

I’ve gotten through a slow patch in THE IGNORED PROPHECY (sequel to THE SHAMAN’S CURSE) and into a section where more is happening. Things are moving faster now, both in the story and in my rewrite of the story. That slow patch is a section I’m going to have to revisit in the next patch, of course. I’ll need to either punch it up or delete a fair bit, probably some of each. But rewrites, like revisions, are an iterative process. The key is not to try to fix everything all at once, but concentrate on a certain aspect in each pass. This pass is more about technique (and a little bit about adding emotion as I improve things like dialog mechanics and internal dialog).

Meanwhile, I’m about ready to start on the final edits and formatting of “Wyreth’s Flame” for publication next month. I’ve pretty much got the cover:

Red Wyreth Cover Small

The plan is for “Wyreth’s Flame” to be free everywhere (which will probably take some work to bring about on Amazon). This short story was the germ that eventually grew into THE BARD’S GIFT.

TheBardsGiftCoverSmallThe ebook for “Wyreth’s Flame” will include a bonus section with a substantial portion of THE BARD’S GIFT.

Oh, the first five chapters of TBG are available free on wattpad, if you want to take a look. I’m putting out a chapter a week, which means it’ll take 33 more weeks for the whole story to be available there (around the middle of November).

So, things are moving well again. Just in time for me to start work at a new job (part time) tomorrow. I’ll be a crossing guard. Wish me luck.

 

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